Fall Festival
A crisp fall breeze, the tips of leaves turning red, a mysterious desire to eat pumpkin-flavored things. Along with their first midterms and physics tests, these tell-tale signs let Mass Academy students know that a Massachusetts autumn is here. All MAMS students are beginning to settle into the 2022-2023 school year after a month of exciting new experiences. Juniors have had an eventful first month, encountering everything from a fun bonding experience at Camp Bournedale to a wave of journal articles as they begin preliminary research for their STEM projects. On the other hand, the well-seasoned seniors are also taking on lots of exciting firsts this year, like their first-ever college courses and their first time experiencing the pressure of college applications.
Recognizing and reminiscing over the milestone that is the first month at MAMS, the senior student government decided to plan a get-together for juniors and seniors to hang out, listen to music, and engage in fun activities.
“The motivation for planning the Fall Festival was to welcome the new school year and fall season while encouraging inter-grade interactions. Another huge part was also fundraising for the junior-senior prom in April,” said senior student government Co-President Kiara Lavana.
To bring together the MAMS community and raise money for prom, Lavana and the rest of the senior student government began a two-week-long preparation for the event.
On September 30th, the day of the Fall Festival, the brickyard sported some beautiful foliage decor and feelings of anticipation for the big event. A table of snacks was set up, including apple cider donuts, fall-themed mini cupcakes, cannoli dip, and some Cheetos puffs. As juniors and seniors poured in, sounds of student chatter filled the room along with senior Co-President Poorvi Mohanakrishnan’s Spotify playlist, which was specifically curated to have “fall-vibes.”
The organizers were able to prepare some fantastic activities for the event.
The pumpkin painting station was the star of the night, with 13 painted pumpkins displayed at the front of MAMS as a result. Several teams of two eagerly designed and painted their most creative images on the pumpkins provided by senior Garyth Page-Violette’s family farm.
Senior Sashank Tadimeti noted that painting with his friends was “fun” and that the activity let him “express his creative side while de-stressing from recent midterms.”
Another big hit was the cupcake decorating station. Using the cupcakes generously provided by Mrs. Post as their canvas, students designed fall and Halloween themed cupcakes. Some notable designs were junior Shuling Lin’s Shrek-inspired cupcake and junior McKenna Child’s spider web frosting design. This dynamic duo also took the trophy home for the most creative pumpkin with their peacock pumpkin.
The final station of the night was the positive leaf station. Juniors and seniors traced and cut out leaves on construction paper and then wrote positive messages to be left around the school. Not only do these crafts serve as excellent fall decor for MAMS in the upcoming months, but they also spread positive and motivational words that will uplift spirits in the MAMS community.
The Fall Festival turned out to be a huge success!
Mohanakrishnan stated that the event raised about 200 dollars for prom, which was “a great step in the right direction towards their goal.”
Senior Isaiah Bateman expressed that he enjoyed “getting together with all his friends after a while” and “not having to worry about the stress of work.”
All in all, the Fall Festival was a perfect end to the month of September at MAMS. These last two years of high school sometimes become incredibly stressful; events like these are not only a fun time, but they also provide a great way to build community and take students’ minds off of school for a bit. Heading into the rest of the school year, the MAMS community has grown closer and made some great memories so far. Everybody can’t wait for what’s to come!
Karisma Lavana
Editor-in-chief
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